Quotes of the day

posted at 8:01 pm on September 8, 2012 by Allahpundit

The Obama era in American politics began almost exactly eight years ago in Boston, when a youthful Senate candidate’s soaring speech to the Democratic National Convention stole the show from the actual Democratic nominee.

It ended, to all intents and purposes, last Thursday night in Charlotte, when a weary-seeming incumbent delivered perhaps the fourth-best major address at his own convention — a plodding, hectoring speech that tacitly acknowledged that this White House is out of ideas, out of options and no longer the master of its fate…

[W]e are not in the late 1990s anymore. There is nothing remotely “normal” about the unemployment rate we’re enduring, or the long-term deficits we face, or the fact that the American birthrate has dropped below replacement level over the last five years. Or alternatively, if this is the new normal, then it’s a normalcy that both citizens and politicians should aspire to swiftly leave behind…

Four years later the shooting liberal star, as we called him then, has come down to earth. What should have been a buoyant recovery coming out of a deep recession was lackluster to start and has grown weaker. The partisanship he claimed to want to dampen has become more fierce. The middle-class incomes he sought to lift have fallen. These results aren’t bad luck or the lingering effects of a crash four years ago. They flow directly from his “transforming” purposes.

To our mind, two events amid hundreds stand out as defining President Obama’s first term. The first is his go-for-broke pursuit of progressive social legislation instead of focusing on economic recovery. The second is his refusal to strike a budget deal with Speaker John Boehner in 2011. Both reveal a President more bent on transforming America than addressing the needs of our time…

So now Mr. Obama is seeking a second term by asking the voters to give him more time to finish the job he started. But what job is that?

***

[I]f there is a unifying idea behind this basket of aspirations, I missed it. I hear all the time, but don’t really know for sure, that the mythical undecided voters that both campaigns chase are not particularly ideological — if they were, they would have already decided between the candidates — and that they clamor for these sorts of statements that include specific and quantifiable goals.

But the list leaves a lot to wonder about. Does Obama have a new plan for addressing climate change? Beats me. (He did say, “And yes, my plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is heating our planet because climate change is not a hoax.” But he didn’t actually offer a real proposal to do anything to stop climate change—nothing like a carbon tax or cap and trade. In fact, he talked about increasing oil production and other sources of carbon pollution.) Will he pursue comprehensive immigration reform in the next session of Congress? He didn’t say. When he faces the fiscal cliff, which would be the first and possibly the most consequential issue of his potential second term, how will he reform Medicare and restructure the tax code? Again, the details were absent last night.

***

The situation facing Romney is hard for some Republicans to comprehend. They didn’t buy Obama’s bill of goods in the first place and find it hard to sympathize with anyone who did. But there are millions of people who voted for Obama who are not only disappointed in him but have come to the conclusion that he does not deserve to be re-elected. The problem for Romney is they might still be persuaded to vote for the president. Making them comfortable with the idea of leaving Obama is Romney’s job.

Romney campaign advisers are very familiar with the type. They do polling, they do focus groups and they see the phenomenon everywhere. Says campaign pollster Neil Newhouse: “These voters are my mother-in-law. She’s a soft Republican and voted with pride for Barack Obama in terms of what it meant for the country. And now, every time she talks to me, she’s more than disappointed. She’s frustrated. She’s upset. She thought she was voting for a transformational leader and feels like we got just another politician.” You can bet Newhouse and the Romney campaign are not basing their strategy on one mother-in-law. They’re undoubtedly seeing the same thing all the time in their research.

The important thing for Romney, aides believe, is not to rub the voters’ noses in their decision from four years ago. Don’t bash Obama, don’t even harp on how he’s not up to the job — that carries the implication that they should have known that when they voted for him. Just focus on the point that his policies have not made things better. “You’ve got to be careful in terms of how you talk about the president,” says a top Romney campaign aide. “It’s his policies and performance voters are concerned about — that’s the focus.”

***

“So you see, the election four years ago wasn’t about me,” President Obama explained. “It was about you. My fellow citizens, you were the change.”

We were the change!

We were the change? Us?…

It’s depressing to look back and remember what soaring hopes we had for ourselves only four years ago. Did we overdo it with the Greek columns? Sheesh, a million people showed up for our inauguration. Now we brag when we break 10,000.

What a drag to realize that Hillary was right: big rallies and pretty words don’t always get you where you want to go. Who knew that Eric Cantor wouldn’t instantly swoon at the sound of our voice or the sight of our smile?…

Last night the president used rhetorical flourishes to say that his election was never about him, but “you.” As in, EVERYONE. So when Obama said that “you” are the reason people have a better future ahead of them, Stewart suspected that the president was trying to push all the responsibility on the people so then he could blame them for “the shitty stuff that hasn’t been done.”

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Not me. If Romney wins, which I think he will, it won’t be because of Romney as much as it will be because of 0 . I feel more people are voting against 0 than voting for Romney. Just my observation. The Mittler Youth are the minority.

Not me. If Romney wins, which I think he will, it won’t be because of Romney as much as it will be because of 0 . I feel more people are voting against 0 than voting for Romney. Just my observation. The Mittler Youth are the minority.

Bmore on September 9, 2012 at 10:21 AM

Sorry, we don’t take fourth-rate HotAir commenters who couldn’t post a worthwhile or original comment if their life depended on it into our esteemed ranks, anyway.

Bmore is nothing but the immature woman who tries to insult bluegill with the same tired insults that weren’t even funny or effective the first 100 times Bmore copied and pasted them. That’s pretty much Bmore’s HotAir existence in a nutshell. I kind of rank Bmore way down there with the brain trust Pragmatic. Both are dumb as dirt, but they keep plugging away with their stupid comments day after day.

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If Romney wins, which I think he will, it won’t be because of Romney as much as it will be because of 0 . I feel more people are voting against 0 than voting for Romney. Just my observation. The Mittler Youth are the minority.

.
Sorry, we don’t take fourth-rate HotAir commenters who couldn’t post a worthwhile or original comment if their life depended on it into our esteemed ranks, anyway.

Bmore is nothing but the immature woman who tries to insult bluegill with the same tired insults that weren’t even funny or effective the first 100 times Bmore copied and pasted them. That’s pretty much Bmore’s HotAir existence in a nutshell. I kind of rank Bmore way down there with the brain trust Pragmatic. Both are dumb as dirt, but they keep plugging away with their stupid comments day after day.
bluegill on September 9, 2012 at 10:41 AM

Bmore is nothing but the immature woman who tries to insult bluegill with the same tired insults that weren’t even funny or effective the first 100 times Bmore copied and pasted them. That’s pretty much Bmore’s HotAir existence in a nutshell. I kind of rank Bmore way down there with the brain trust Pragmatic. Both are dumb as dirt, but they keep plugging away with their stupid comments day after day.

Bmore is nothing but the immature woman who tries to insult bluegill with the same tired insults that weren’t even funny or effective the first 100 times Bmore copied and pasted them. That’s pretty much Bmore’s HotAir existence in a nutshell. I kind of rank Bmore way down there with the brain trust Pragmatic. Both are dumb as dirt, but they keep plugging away with their stupid comments day after day.

bluegill on September 9, 2012 at 10:41 AM

Keep telling yourself that bigoted fluffer. I’ll keep right on laughing in that pathetic little fish face of yours. The stench is apparent to almost all here at HA. You foll no one but yourselves. Third person? What, do you fancy your self a queen? Queen fluffer! Lol! Funny! Keep on jumping into my boat. One day you’ll get gutted like the stink fish you are, pan frayed and then thrown back.

Look you pathetic little leftist, the only thing I want to here from you is that you were finally able to get those fine folks at Morehouse straight. Until then STFU. You and the gilled one are perfect for each other, get a room, or a bowl, which ever you prefer. Lol! Weakling! As my friend Shadenfreude would say. May you spontaneously combust. ; )

And that, right there, is why you’re not. “Cool” is how other people regard you, not what you call yourself. By definition, if you refer to yourself as cool– or even think of yourself as cool– you’re not. Junior High 101.

It’s difficult to comment when holding ones breath to avoid the stench. You are foolish. You defend when no defense is warranted. You attack when no attack is warranted. You are not liked because of these traits. You are a bigot. You stink of rotted thought and rotting fish. You are the gilled one. You are intellectualy lazy. It is why you are as you are. You know little and therefore appear as such. All of you who worship these political figures are the same. Yet he we are. In deep trouble as a Country because of the likes of you. You are the exact same cretin who blindly supports 0. You are cut from the same cloth. You are blind to it and do not smell your own stench. Many around know this of you. You are despised, as you should be.

Sheesh, when did HotAir comments get so boring with all the flame-wars?

Have you guys been feeding the trolls? You know what happens when we do that….

Now, from the post itself: “The important thing for Romney, aides believe, is not to rub the voters’ noses in their decision from four years ago. Don’t bash Obama, don’t even harp on how he’s not up to the job — that carries the implication that they should have known that when they voted for him.”

It galls me to admit that this is true. I really WANT these voters to recognize their error and face it, because if they don’t, it won’t take long before we’re right back here again, with another “transformative” figure whom people fawn over without really seeing who they are. However, I know that we cannot remove Obama from office on a Shame-On-You! platform. It has to be a Let’s-Fix-This! platform. That’s Ryan’s job, I think…..